Improvement in the



ISAAC H. CLARK, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

IIVIIROVEIVIENT I N THE APPLICATION 0F CARBONIC ACID IN FIREENGINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. Sl, dated December 1, 1868; antedated November 27, 1868.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ISAAC II. CLARK, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have made a new and useful Invention of Application of Carbonio-Acid Gas to Force-Pumps or Engines; and do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof, due reference being had to the accompanying drawings making part of this specification, and in which- Figure 1 is a section. of a fire-en gine or forcepump constructed in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the furnace or retort for producingthe carbonicacid gas, the same to be hereinafter referred to and explained; Fig. 3 being a plan of the invention.

The object sought in making this invention is to provide an attachment or an addition to force-pumps or fire-engines, otherwise of ordinary construction, whereby to effect the more instantaneous and thorough extinct-ion of a fire in any locality.

The invention consists in combining, with the water of an ordinary force-pump or engine, either in the air-chamber of the same or in the stream issuing from such chamber or pump, a stream, jet, or current of carbonio-acid gas, which, mingling with the stream of water, has powerful effect in subduing and extinguishing the iiame upon which it is thrown.

In the drawings accompanying this specification, and which illustrate my invention, A denotes a force-pump or nre-engine, of ordinaryT construction, in which a is the platform, b b b I) the wheels, c the goose-neck, and d the `lole. 'Ihe cylinder in this ease is a doubleacting one, is represented at e, and the airchamber or dome at f. rIlhe walking-beam is shown at g as supported upon a standard, g1, and pivoted at one end to the piston-rod 7L of the pump-cylinder c, and at its opposite end to the piston-rod f of an air-forcing-pump cylinder, g2, which is disposed upon the platform of the engine, and opposite the pumpcylinder c. In carrying out my invention, I apply to the platform a', or to any other convenient part of the engine, a furnace, h, composed, in this instance, of an upright cylinder pipe, o, connects the ash-pit l with the waterspace n, as represented in the drawings. A second bent pipe, p, leads from the upper part of the water-space n tothe air-pump g2, while from such air-pump a pipe or conduit, r, is oonnected to and communicates with the air-chamber f or its discharging-pipe s.

In preparing the apparatus for use, a quantity of charcoal is placed within the fire-pot or retort k of the furnace, and ignited, the top of such fire-pot being' closed in a suitable manner, it being understood that the air and water pumps c g2 are in action. By the agency of the air-pump, a stron g draft is induced through the furnace, and the fumes, or carbonio-acid gas,resulting from the combustion of the charcoal in the fire-pot are drawn thence downward, through the water, by which means the said gas is puriiicd or separated from any ashes or deleterious matter, while from the upper part of the water-chamber n of the furnace the gas is drawn into the air-pump, and thence discharged, through thc pipe r, into the water contained in the air chamber, or into the stream of water issuing from the dischargepipe, with the results and effects before stated.

It will, of course, be apparent that a variety of materials or chemicals, as well as devices, maybe employed in the production and application of the gas, and I do not, of course, intend to conne myself to any details of this nature, as my invention consists, as before stated, in combining with, or introduein g into, the discharging water of a force-pump or engine a jet or stream of carbonio-acid gas.

I would remark that in case of a steam fireengine charcoal may be employed, both as a means of feeding the ire below the boiler thereof, and of producing the gas necessary in construction, of an air-pump, for introducin g or ejecting carbonie-acid gas into the discharge- Water of such engine after such Water may have left the pump-cylinders, for the purposes substantially as before explained.

ISAAC H. CLARK.

Witnesses:

GEO. A. Lonnie, FRED. CURTIs. 

